The Sports Desk

PETERSFIELD TOWN boss Ian Saunders has urged his players not to indulge in too much of the Christmas spirit so they are fit and raring to go at Uxbridge on Boxing Day.

The players are free to spend the run up to Christmas and Christmas Day itself with their families with no training or match commitments since last weekend.

They need to watch what they do on Christmas Day to a certain extent, particularly later in the day, so they are fresh and raring to go when we meet up on Boxing Day morning.

Petersfield boss Ian Saunders

But Saunders hopes they will take a professional approach to their preparations for their Southern League division one central match in the capital on Saturday (1pm).

‘We don’t tell the players what they can and can’t do – especially at this time of year for celebrations with their friends and family,’ explained the Petersfield boss.

‘However, we don’t expect them to turn up the worse for wear on matchday and with a 1pm kick-off at Uxbridge, most of us will have to set off for the game at 10am in the morning.

‘So they need to watch what they do on Christmas Day to a certain extent, particularly later in the day, so they are fresh and raring to go when we meet up on Boxing Day morning.’

Spirits are high in the Rams camp after back-to-back wins against the division’s bottom two sides in the last two league games, which has opened up a 14-point gap between Petersfield and the drop zone.

It means Saunders and his players can now enter the second half of the season looking to climb the league table and see where that takes them.

He added: ‘There was a great mood in the dressing room after last week’s win against Leighton with some of the players really positive about what we can go on and achieve this season.

‘But we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground as we have some tough matches against sides towards the top of the division coming up.

‘The last two matches haven’t been pretty but if we can keep churning out the results in the coming weeks, we will soon hit the 40-point target we set ourselves before the season began.